# Swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre breaststroke

The men's 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on 24 July at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, United States.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Mike Barrowman (USA) | 2:10.16 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 1992 |
| Olympic record | Mike Barrowman (USA) | 2:10.16 | Barcelona, Spain | 29 July 1992 |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest swimmers advance to final A (Q), while the next eight to final B (q).
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 4 | Károly Güttler | Hungary | 2:13.89 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Andrey Korneyev | Russia | 2:14.11 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | Kurt Grote | United States | 2:14.63 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | Norbert Rózsa | Hungary | 2:14.66 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 6 | Nick Gillingham | Great Britain | 2:14.96 | Q |
| 6 | 4 | 3 | Phil Rogers | Australia | 2:14.97 | Q |
| 7 | 5 | 2 | Marek Krawczyk | Poland | 2:15.17 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 6 | Eric Wunderlich | United States | 2:15.18 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 2 | Jean-Christophe Sarnin | France | 2:15.27 | q |
| 10 | 3 | 3 | Ryan Mitchell | Australia | 2:15.31 | q |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | Akira Hayashi | Japan | 2:15.37 | q |
| 12 | 5 | 3 | Andrey Ivanov | Russia | 2:15.56 | q |
| 13 | 3 | 7 | Joaquín Fernández | Spain | 2:16.05 | q |
| 14 | 5 | 7 | Jonathan Cleveland | Canada | 2:16.08 | q |
| 15 | 4 | 5 | Frédérik Deburghgraeve | Belgium | 2:16.10 | q, WD |
| 16 | 3 | 8 | Mario González | Cuba | 2:16.15 | q |
| 17 | 2 | 5 | Valērijs Kalmikovs | Latvia | 2:17.07 | q, NR |
| 18 | 3 | 1 | Daniel Málek | Czech Republic | 2:17.08 | |
| 19 | 2 | 8 | José Couto | Portugal | 2:17.28 | NR |
| 20 | 4 | 1 | Ratapong Sirisanont | Thailand | 2:17.32 | |
| 21 | 2 | 6 | Aliaksandr Hukau | Belarus | 2:17.49 | |
| 22 | 5 | 1 | Dmytro Ivanusa | Ukraine | 2:17.54 | |
| 23 | 4 | 8 | Stéphan Perrot | France | 2:18.58 | |
| 24 | 3 | 2 | Wang Yiwu | China | 2:19.13 | |
| 25 | 2 | 3 | Elvin Chia | Malaysia | 2:20.39 | |
| 26 | 4 | 7 | Børge Mørk | Norway | 2:20.42 | |
| 27 | 4 | 8 | Vadim Alexeev | Israel | 2:20.47 | |
| 28 | 2 | 2 | Christophe Verdino | Monaco | 2:20.77 | |
| 29 | 2 | 4 | Vadim Tatarov | Moldova | 2:21.34 | |
| 30 | 1 | 5 | Roberto Bonilla | Guatemala | 2:21.86 | |
| 31 | 2 | 1 | Todd Torres | Puerto Rico | 2:22.66 | |
| 32 | 2 | 7 | Nerijus Beiga | Lithuania | 2:23.40 | |
| 33 | 1 | 4 | Francisco Suriano | El Salvador | 2:25.57 | |
| 34 | 1 | 3 | Huang Chih-yung | Chinese Taipei | 2:25.96 | |
| | 1 | 6 | Desmond Koh | Singapore | DNS | |
| | 5 | 8 | Paul Kent | New Zealand | DNS | |

### Finals
#### Final B

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 9 | 6 | Andrey Ivanov | Russia | 2:14.37 | |
| 10 | 1 | Mario González | Cuba | 2:15.11 | NR |
| 11 | 5 | Ryan Mitchell | Australia | 2:15.63 | |
| 12 | 2 | Joaquín Fernández | Spain | 2:16.05 | |
| 13 | 8 | Valērijs Kalmikovs | Latvia | 2:16.23 | NR |
| 14 | 4 | Jean-Christophe Sarnin | France | 2:16.26 | |
| 15 | 1 | Jonathan Cleveland | Canada | 2:16.39 | |
| 16 | 3 | Akira Hayashi | Japan | 2:16.69 | |

#### Final A

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 6 | Norbert Rózsa | Hungary | 2:12.57 | |
| | 4 | Károly Güttler | Hungary | 2:13.03 | |
| | 5 | Andrey Korneyev | Russia | 2:13.17 | |
| 4 | 2 | Nick Gillingham | Great Britain | 2:14.37 | |
| 5 | 7 | Phil Rogers | Australia | 2:14.79 | |
| 6 | 1 | Marek Krawczyk | Poland | 2:14.84 | NR |
| 7 | 8 | Eric Wunderlich | United States | 2:15.69 | |
| 8 | 3 | Kurt Grote | United States | 2:16.05 | |